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Bicycling more prevalent among wealthy
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"Bicycling More Prevalent Among Wealthy" stated a headline in the UK Times a few years ago. According to the British, "The richer people become the further they cycle," or at least so it seemed in Britain. Obviously, this is not looking the world over. There are still countries where even a bicycle is a luxury. So how did the "poor man's mode of transport" become an activity of the wealthy? Look how bikes have changed.
Back in the 50's and even into the 60's when folks were buying Schwinn Typhoons and Phantoms, not very many people were wearing a path to high-end bikes. Oh, I remember looking at Cinellis in the 70's, but you didn't find something like that in just any bike shop, and only a very few were purchasing them. Though in a recent Google groups post one writer commented that just since 1989, a $700 bicycle would have inflated to over $1000 in 2009, another forum contributor countered that the plethora of high-end bikes today wasn't just due to inflation. Ed Dolan of Minnesote attributed the rise of high-end bikes to "a wealthy class of consumers" who "do not mind spending many thousands of dollars on a piece of recreational equipment. . . . " Also, the average bicyclist of the 50's and 60's wasn't purchasing an entire cycling wardrobe.
Again referring to the Brits, according to the London Cycling Campaign, "people on higher incomes tend to be better educated about the health benefits of cycling and more concerned with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If the U.S. is one of the richest and most educated countries, we should be one of the healthiest. If British theory were truly the case, there would be no obesity epidemic in America. So, if high-end bicycles and the need for lycra and spandex specialty clothes is pushing bicycling more into the world of a wealthy elite, how do we make bicycling appeal and accessible to the not so wealthy?
See Part II: Bike Works
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